Question,   should I put the money up to have it surveyed and create a preliminary planned development?

Is a tenant survey a good idea?

You can simply take a survey of the neighboring properties to find out their gross income and expenses and base your number off of that.

"The survey found the worst, most outdated features in homes include linoleum floors (40 percent), popcorn ceilings (29 percent), wood paneling (28 percent), ceramic tile countertops (28 percent), shag carpeting (19 percent) and avocado green appliances (8 percent)."

I have to have a survey done first and have initial plans drawn up by an architect. 

The training to become a land surveyor seems fairly minimal and surveys cost at least several hundred dollars for a few hours work.

@Mindy Jensen  You might want to survey users (offline) on the importance of search and how well BP does.   

They are all surveyed and taxed separately, but we had them appraised as 12 units and took out a commercial loan.

Saves you from more $$ and headaches if it gets lost down the road (a common occurrence.).Either way, there should be an earnest money contract, survey, and title insurance. 

You can always Google the name to see what you get.Sometimes you can also get stuff like the subdivision plat or land survey from the same place you got the tax information.